Ponce de Leon Theatre

231 Ponce de Leon Avenue NE,

Atlanta,
GA30308

The January 27, 1927, issue of Motion Picture News had an article about Universal Pictures expanding its theater holdings in the Atlanta area. One line pertained to the Ponce de Leon Theatre: “One of the company’s most recent acquisitions was a fifty per cent interest in the community theatre just being completed on Ponce de Leon Avenue near Boulevard, one of the city’s most flourishing centers.”

The Universal affiliate in Atlanta, Neighborhood Theatres, was partly owned by Oscar Oldknow, the regional vice president of Universal’s theater arm. Other Neighborhood Theatres houses in which Universal acquired an interest at this time included the Fairfax in East Point and the Madison in East Atlanta. In 1928 the chain opened the Empire Theatre on Georgia Avenue.

The Ponce de Leon Theatre opened March 7, 1927 with the film “Hot Water” starring Harold Lloyd. And was located at Ponce de LEon and N. Boulevard. The Excelsior Mill was over on North Avenue across the street from the Sears store and next to the railroad bridge.

450 seats sounds just right for the Ponce de Leon Theatre. It was roughly similar to the bygone West End Theatre that once stood on Lee Street in West End, as well as the Kirkwood Theatre cited earlier.

Fifty years ago I saw westerns starring Randolph Scott and Alan Ladd at the Ponce de Leon.

The Ponce de Leon Theatre stood on the north side of Ponce de Leon Avenue, several doors east of the intersection where Boulevard intersects Ponce de Leon Avenue from the south and becomes Monroe Drive north of Ponce de Leon Avenue. The only street address that I am aware of is 506 Ponce de Leon Avenue, NE.

This was one of the neighborhood theaters that my dad took me to in the 1950’s. As nearly as I can recall, it was a relatively small theater like the Kirkwood Theatre at 1965 Boulevard Drive, SE.

The Ponce de Leon Theatre closed circa 1956. The building stood empty for many years. To the best of my knowledge, the property was never used by any other business. As I recall, it was demolished in the early 1970’s.